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The Daily Review reports:
Tuesday, June 24, 2003

Big field, big plans: Effort begins to upgrade sports facility
By Jason Bono, STAFF WRITER

CASTRO VALLEY -- Artificial turf may spring up out of a grass-roots effort in Castro Valley.

A group of parents, coaches and community members is raising a different sort of greenery for a $3 million upgrade to the sports stadium at Castro Valley High School by summer 2006.

"You don't type on a typewriter anymore, and you don't do math on a slide rule. So why are we stuck with this (current) stadium?" asked Martin Capron, president of the nonprofit Castro Valley Sports Foundation, which he helped found in January to fund the project.

The current stadium is neatly maintained, but signs of its age and heavy use show through.

Bald spots speckle the center of the football and soccer field. The planks of the wooden bleachers are flimsy and splintering like old bones, gray where green paint chipped away long ago. Dust clouds rise behind runners' feet on the cinder track, which gets muddy with rain.

The proposed stadium would include an all-weather track and artificial grass field as well as new lighting, a press box and aluminum bleachers for about 2,500 fans.

Supporters lay out a long list of selling points for the project, starting with the need to modernize a facility that is about 45 years old. But the ultimate vision put forward by Capron and others is more than just an upgrade.

They imagine it as the central link in a community center along Redwood Road that consists of the school's six brand-new tennis courts and the Castro Valley Performing Arts Center, slated for completion in summer 2004.

Already, the stadium hosts a variety of school and community activities ranging from school district and youth sports to ceremonies such as graduation.

The more durable artificial track and field with better lighting would enable heavier, year-round use of the stadium, day and night, Capron said. And the stadium would make Castro Valley a more desirable location for hosting regional events and competitions as well as for home buyers, he added.

Craig Nieves, who teaches gym and coaches football at the school, said he will work with whatever field the school has. But he added that artificial turf would allow for heavier use and probably prevent some injuries.

"If it happens, it would be great for the school and the community," Nieves said.

School district activities would take priority in the new stadium, but it also would be open to community use, youth athletic leagues and regional competitions, said Capron, who is a Canyon Middle School parent and youth sports coach.

"I think if they could pull it off, it sounds good," said school board President Kunio Okui. "I've been here on the board for 12 years now. I've never seen that much money raised by an outside group (the school district)."

Okui said he thought that fund raising for the performing arts center -- for costs in addition to the building, which will be paid for out of a 2002 school facilities bond -- might compete with the sports foundation's efforts.

And, of course, there's the economy.

The foundation plans to undertake the hefty fund-raising task through extensive outreach in the community, using mailings, billboards and its professional Web site complete with video and audio clips.

For pitching in, donors can get gifts such as mugs or stadium jackets.

For more information or to make donations, visit www.cvsportstadium.org

www.cvsportsstadium.org